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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045036">absent friends</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard'>draculard</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars Original Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Han and Luke - totally just friends, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mutual Pining, Nothing to see here, Planet Hoth is Cold (Star Wars), Set during Empire Strikes Back, Treat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 02:01:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,579</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30045036</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/draculard/pseuds/draculard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Luke Skywalker, so-called Jedi Knight, hasn't come back from his scouting shift.</p><p>Why isn't Han surprised?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Luke Skywalker/Han Solo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>It's All in the Name (Take #2)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>absent friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/plinge/gifts">plinge</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em> Hoth </em>. Soulless, terrible, awful place. Worst world Han’s ever been on, hands down. Highlights? Not many. The jackets are snazzy, but he could do without the Rebel starbird emblazoned on the back — seems like poor operational security if you ask him, but … well, no one’s asked him. In fact, people are Not Asking him things so much that it seems like they’re making a deliberate point about it.</p><p>There are other highlights, of course. Chewie is here. Then again, Chewie’s <em> always </em> where Han is, so he can’t really count that in Hoth’s favor. But he gets to commandeer (read: steal) as many Rebel supplies as he wants to fix the Falcon up. Then again, they aren’t fantastic parts. The Empire has what some might call a <em> fascist monopoly </em> on the good stuff. </p><p>Again, not like anybody’s asking Han. His only function here seems to be to fly fast (but only when <em> they </em> want him to, and for some reason cave-flying is off-limits) and to look pretty, and so far he’s received precious little acknowledgment on the ‘pretty’ part.</p><p>Well, okay. There’s <em> one </em>other highlight. Han tosses his spanner up and catches it in one hand, a line appearing between his eyebrows. The issue is, said highlight hasn't returned yet, and his scouting stint ended over an hour ago. Not that Han is keeping track, of course. It’s just that he and Luke had plans: dejarik, a cup of caf (or what passes for caf around here), an hour or two with the holoprojector and some truly terrible old Jedi propaganda films that Luke’s obnoxiously enamored with.</p><p>Normal friendship things. Han is 99% sure that counts as normal friendship. His only friend up till now has been a 9 foot Wookiee who flips the dejarik board when he loses, so it’s hard to tell. He and Chewie haven’t had a whole lot of days just sitting on the couch together watching holos.</p><p>Arms touching.</p><p>Luke’s body heat bleeding through their clothes.</p><p>Ahem. Han pushes his protective goggles up, catches sight of the officer on deck a few meters away and sidles casually over.</p><p>“Hey,” he says gruffly. “Skywalker come in yet?”</p><p>This is the part where the guy gives him an expressionless nod and points toward the crew quarters. Or at least, that’s what Han desperately <em> wants </em>him to do. Instead, he widens his eyes at Han and pushes his hat back, like that’ll help him see better.</p><p>“He’s not with you?” the officer asks. </p><p>Han’s response is quick, automatic, and a little too sharp. “Why would he be with me?”</p><p>The officer doesn’t answer. Chewie gargles something that makes Han very glad he’s the only guy here who speaks Shyriiwook. He turns away with a huff, crosses his arms over his chest, looks out at the white horizon.</p><p>Hesitates.</p><p>“He was supposed to be back an hour ago,” he says.</p><p>Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the officer check his roster, and <em> Seriously? </em> Han thinks. <em> It’s Luke Skywalker, the kid who blew up the Death Star (with help) and thinks he’s a wizard or something. You really need to look him up? </em></p><p>“You’re right,” the officer confirms.</p><p>Of course he’s right. Han’s always right. He watches the officer raise a comlink to his lips and send out a signal.</p><p>“Skywalker, report in,” he says.</p><p>They listen to the static. Han crosses his arms tighter, shoots a backward scowl at Chewie and the Falcon, gives a casual nod as if Chewie’s just asked him if he’s okay. Chewie has not in fact asked him if he’s okay. Chewie is otherwise occupied with repairs.</p><p>“Skywalker?” the officer says again.</p><p>Just static. Han’s eyes shift leftward, to the corral of awful beasts that everyone here seems wild about riding in the snow. Luke took one of those ugly things with him when he left; he remembers watching him go, making his big speech about leaving the Rebellion once and for all — then checking over his shoulder just to find that Luke had stopped on his way out and was staring back at Han, like he was taking one last look.</p><p>And Han didn’t tell him he was just kidding. And now Luke is lost in the wintry hellscape somewhere.</p><p>Oh, this is great. Casually, he makes his way back to Chewie.</p><p>“Kid’s gone,” he says. Casual-like.</p><p>“Rooughrgh,” says Chewie.</p><p>“Dunno,” says Han. “Never came back from his scouting mission.”</p><p>He fiddles with his spanner, casts a sidelong look at Chewie and silently prays the Wookiee will say ‘someone ought to go get him, then.’ </p><p>Chewie doesn’t. Han clears his throat.</p><p>“Someone ought to go get him,” he says. </p><p>“Hnnnnrgh,” says Chewie, disinterested.</p><p>“Well, it could be pretty cold out there.”</p><p>Chewie turns to him at last and raises a shaggy eyebrow. Han endures the stare for all of thirty seconds before he throws his hands (and the spanner) up.</p><p>“Fine, alright!” he says, turning away. “I guess I’ll go! But this is the last thing I’m doing for the Rebellion, you hear me?”</p><p>He says this last bit loud enough for everyone in the hangar to hear. Nobody looks his way. After a moment, scowling, Han puts his hands down.</p><p>“I’m taking the tauntaun,” he mutters.</p>
<hr/><p>Luke’s been in some pretty bad scrapes before, he knows. He’s not the type to complain about it (much) (anymore). But there’s something about Hoth that just makes infiltrating the Death Star and growing up on Tatooine seem almost nostalgic, and today’s vying for the title of Worst Day Yet.</p><p>His face hurts. In fact, his face is torn to absolute bits. His tauntaun is dead. Han’s leaving the Rebellion. He’s currently dying of hypothermia in the cold. He’s pretty sure he just talked to Ben’s ghost ten minutes ago, and that’s never a good sign. </p><p>...Han’s <em> leaving </em>. </p><p>It should be impossible for that thought to hurt when Luke is lying in the snow, so injured and exhausted that he can’t even stand — but it does. He pushes his hands into the snow, trying to find something solid to use as leverage so he can stand, but all he finds is more snow, deep and hard-packed and so icy that it slices at his fingers, leaves them red and bleeding. </p><p>The strength goes out of his arms. He feels too hot, wants to take off his parka, but he can’t get his limbs to listen to him. In his head, he sees Han at the Falcon, a spanner in his hand as he avoids Luke’s eyes and says, all bluster<em>, I gotta go, kid. I gotta pay my debts. </em></p><p>Three years with the Rebellion, and Han is leaving. When Luke thinks about it, tallies the total number of missions they’ve run together, it seems woefully small. He knows he can’t choose his partner on every run, but he wishes…</p><p>He wishes Han had come with him today. Just this once.</p>
<hr/><p>Luke wakes, because of course he does, to the most noxious smell in the world and the awful feeling that he’s been coated in warm slime. He can see daylight through the tent flap — the awfully <em> furry </em>tent flap — oh God, that’s not a tent flap, is it? Luke blinks, squints into the sun, feels like his galaxy has been crumpled up into a little ball and then stretched out again, wrinkled and not-quite-right.</p><p>He feels warm arms around him and checks to make sure they’re <em> actually </em>arms, not tauntaun innards. It takes all his strength just to turn his head and see the rough, broad hand pressed against his chest. He sees calluses, minor cuts and burns, stains of blood and engine grease stuck in the coarse brown hair on the back of the hand.</p><p>“Han…?” Luke says. His voice comes out as little more than a cough. </p><p>“Hngh?” says a voice behind him, breath brushing the back of his neck — and yeah, that’s Han. Luke would recognize his gruff note of complaint and grievance anywhere.</p><p>“We’re…” Luke blinks, blood sticking his eyelashes together. “We’re inside a tauntaun.”</p><p>Han sniffs, pulls him closer. He doesn’t seem fully awake. “Yeah,” he says. “Waiting for help.”</p><p>“How will they find us?”</p><p>“Put up a shelter,” Han mutters. “Around the tauntaun. They’ll see us.”</p><p>He put up a shelter <em> around </em> the tauntaun, and stuffed Luke <em> into </em>the tauntaun? ...Well, okay, who is Luke to judge? He was unconscious at the time. Maybe using a tauntaun as a sleeping bag really was the only choice. With great difficulty, he manages to lift his hand and close his fingers around Han’s, squeezing weakly. Han pulls him closer in response — which is nice, when Luke ignores the squelching of tauntaun guts beneath them. </p><p>He can feel Han’s chest against his back, firm and warm. Darkness crowds in on Luke again, makes him close his eyes with a sigh. Everything aches — his face, his body, his (not to get sappy) heart, but it’s bearable, at least for a little while. With Han here.</p><p>He turns his head and buries his face in Han’s arm.</p><p>“Han?” he says.</p><p>He feels Han go still behind him, his grip becoming light as if he’s worried he might be hurting Luke. “Yeah?”</p><p>“Stay.”</p><p>Han is silent just long enough that Luke knows he gets it; he knows Luke doesn’t mean here, in the shelter, surrounded by snow. He means here, with Luke. Wherever Luke is.</p><p>Han pulls him closer.</p><p>“I will,” he says. </p>
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